Process of manufacturing soft-steel castings



(No Model.)

P. W. HAWKINS. PROCESS OF MANUFACTURING SOFT STEEL GASTINGS.

No. 538,646. PatentedA'pr. so, 1895.

a Mz-M in: mmms PETERS cu, PNOTO-LlYH -v WASHINGTON, n c.

NIT-ED STATES FFICEQ PA ENT H FREDERICK WV. HAWKINS, OF YPSILANTI, MICHIGAN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 538,646, dated April 30, 1895.

I Application filed December 21. 1894. Serial No. 582,608. (No specimens.) I

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FREDERICK W. HAW- KINS, of Ypsilanti, in the county of \Vashtenaw and State of Michigan, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Processes of and which is of such character as to permit I the welding thereto of iron or steel at a temper-ature so low that all danger of blistering or burning is obviated. This metal will be especially valuable in the manufacture of tools (being of close, fine grain and the color of crucible steel), it being especially fitted for making the blanks used in the manufacture of axes, hammers, chisels and such other tools as usually have steel welded to an iron blank.

My invention consists in a process which I employ and which I will now fully describe. I take sixty per cent. of No. 1 charcoal pigiron whose chemical analysis shows as near as may be: silica, 3.6000 per cent.; phosphorus, 0.1878 per cent; sulphur, 0.0484 per cent;

' carbon, (graphitic,) 3.4800 per cent; carbon,

(combined,) 0.5840 per cent.; manganese, 0.3900 per cent; iron, 91.7098 per cent; total, one hundred; also forty per cent. of No. 5 charcoal pig-iron whose chemical analysis shows as near as may be: silica, 0.8480 per cent; phosphorus, 0.0198 per cent. sulphur, 0.0370 per cent; graphitic carbon, 4.0850 per cent; combined carbon, 0.4530 per cent; iron, 94.5572 per cent; total, one hundred. These pig-ironsI mingle and melt together in a furnace constructed as shown in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section;

. Fi 2, a cross-section on line X Y, Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3, a front elevation; the whole'drawn on a scale of one-fourth of an inch to the foot.

This furnace is more particularly described as follows: The walls are laid of proper material. Openings through the walls of the furnace as shown by letters D, E, F, and G, are made for the purpose of admitting a poker for stirring the iron when mixing and for removing the slag, the opening at G also being used for filling the iron into the furnace; H,

the opening for filling the furnace with coal;

0, the opening fordrawing off the melted iron, i

and I the furnace blow pipe; all as shown in Fig. 1.

At A A and B, as shown in Fig. 1, and at A, A, A, A, A and B, B, as shown in Fig. 2, and A, A, A and B, B, as shown in Fig. 3, are openings in the wall of the furnace through which steam pipes are projected.

Fig. 3 shows the steam pipe through which at the openings A, A, A and B, B, the steam is injected into the furnace.

As soon as these pig-irons are melted I stir and work the same in a manner to remove the slag and effect a thorough mixing. A high temperature (white heat) is maintained and steam is continuously injected into the furnace at the openings by pipes at A, A, A,

shows a radiation from the center and shows many dark specks, the proper percentage of carbon has been realized and the molten mass is then run into molds and cast in any de sired pattern. The castings surrounded with wrought iron borings wet with a solution of sal-ammoniacin water in a proportion of two ounces of sal-aminoni ac to one gallon of water are then packed into annealing pots. The castings thus packed are placed in an ordinary annealing oven for the purpose of annealing and the castings, after being brought up to it, kept at an even high temperature (white heat but less than melting point) for a period of five days; after which period the oven is gradually cooled for five days when the metal partakes of the nature of soft steel and may be Worked into any desired shape without the necessity of heating it. After cooling the castings are removed from the annealing pots and by the process of tumbling are cleansed of such of the annealing matter as may adhere to them. They are then ready for welding, which may be done in the usual manner.

This metal may be welded to metal of its own kind, to steel, or to iron, with equal facility, and at a temperature much lower than that necessary-in thewelding ofqsteel prjrom made by any other known process.

What I claim, and seek to secure by Letters Patent, is

The process of manufacturing soft iron castings consisting in mixing as soon asmelted sixty per cent. of No. 1 charcoal pig-iron ha ving the chemical analysis as nearasmay be hereinbefore shown with forty per cent. of No. 5 charcoal pig-iron having the chemical analysis as near as may be hereinbefore shown, in a suitable furnace, continuing themixing by stirring in sucha manner'as to, remove the slag and effect a perfect mixing of the two metals, maintainingra high temperature in the metal. so mixed and r continuously injecting steam into the furnaceitill theh proper percentage ofi carbon is realized, running the metal into molds, packing the castings surrounded with wrought iron borings wet with a solution of salammoniac in water into annealing pots, placing them in an ordinary annealing oven, and keeping them after being brought up to it at a white heat (less than the melting point) for a period of about five days, and then allowing them to gradually cool.

In witness whereof I aifix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

FREDERICK W. HAWKINS. \Vitnesses:

ARTHUR W. SPRINGSTEIN, JAMES L. O; K WLES. 

